Calendar/Common Assessment

Our semester is closing quickly.

My students will be turning in their final drafts of the research assignment on Dec. 10.  It has taken us since the start of the unit to get this far and I have been explicitly focused on RI 8.2 and W 8.2.  We will write an essay as a class next week as a strategy for teaching writing.  I have two organizers that I found helpful as well.  I will need to give the Common Reading Assessment on the Dec. 14 so that I have time to get in a Common Written Narrative before break.  

I believe we all need to write questions for the Common Assessment by Thursday of next week, so we can begin putting it together--which usually takes about 2 weeks. 

If you can look at the Benedict Arnold piece, and write one question under each standard assigned to a target--so about three MC questions.  Make sure you write which target and standard is being assessed.  We will go over our questions together on Thursday.  Ms. Dixon will be assigned to our meeting that day.   

Updated Advanced Common Assessment on Dropbox

I have found an article to assess the standard about bias language.  I purpose three articles.  2 ERQs and 1 SAQ.  They can choose between two articles for one of the ERQs.  I am taking off the original SAQ.  I would like to change the wording of the first ERQ to include rhetorical appeals. 


-Tiffany

Videos for our Current Reading Standards

Here is are some videos that illustrate some the standards we are currently using. Of course, our topics differ but the approach to the target should be similar. I don't think the teaching strategies are extraordinary or uber creative in these videos, but they are certainly intentional and very focused on the standards. I really like how they annotate the targets as they teach.

This one features RI.8.9 (8.6 is being used too, but we are not assessing that target - we can mention it OF COURSE - but it won't be a focus for us at this time):
http://www.pd360.com/index.cfm?ContentId=5370

This one features RI8.3 and RI 8.1. Tiffany, look at resources (Springboard). http://www.pd360.com/index.cfm?ContentId=5370

CHALLENGE!

Good Morning!

I have a challenge for our PLC group. I would like for each of us to log into our CIITS accounts and get hooked up to PD360! 

PD 360 is like a facebook+youtube+blackboard for teachers. Despite my original scoffing, I am actually digging the resource. You create a profile, connect to colleagues and find helpful videos on everything. (Warning *ahem, cobb* My computer plug-in is in full gear!)

I've watched a lesson on teaching RL 8.2 this morning - it was not extraordinary but it was a great way to see how someone else tackled a standard - new peeps (and really all of us) this is great way for you to 'observe' other folks teaching styles. For instance, the girl in the video I watched talked about she 'diffused' the learning target with her students. It's like she annotated the target with her students before each lesson, so targets are not just posted - they are intentionally discussed each day. A really easy technique that I grabbed by watching a 3 minutes of a video.

I know there were some original log-in issues, but I encourage you to try again. As we get more proficient with this we can start and join groups on the site that are filled with resources and advice.
I think you have to get into to CIITS to get to PD 360, so......

CIITS Log On:
1. Go to MCHS web page - Staff Links - CIITS
2. Log in with your school email. I think you can get a password sent to you if your password isn;t working. I had to do that earlier this year. It sent immediately.
3. On CIITS site you have a home page. I'll admit - the CIITS site is way over my head. I am not having any luck finding wonderful, inspiring material on the site. I need training for it. HOWEVER, you can link to PD 360 from there.
4. On the right hand side of your CIITS home page you should see a link for PD 360. It is a little green apple and says "PD 360". *I had to fix the pop-up blocker on my computer to get to it - which is weird because I rarely have to do that on my computer. 

Create an account for PD 360.
Once you are on there is a profile creator that is super similar to most social networking profile startups. It will prompt you to add information and connect to colleagues. After that the Internet magic takes over and you suddenly are lost in videos and searches. ;)  There is some points thingy that calculates how many points you can earn by doing different stuff on the site: 10 points for watching a video, 10 points for finding a colleague....I have no clue what the points are for but I am secretly wishing they'll transfer to dollars. Ha!

What to do on PD 360.
My suggestion is to click on the PD videos and the Common Core links. If you are looking for instructional materials - go Common Core. If you are looking for classroom management go to PD videos. There is a ton of stuff - some are better quality than others - but give it try. It is a quick and easy way to access info on improving instruction - and it beats the hell out of sorting through  research articles and books (says the reading teacher).

LET'S DO THIS! (Cue poms poms & fight song). We will can be the first McNabb PLC to have synced into PD 360 - that's fun, right?

8th Materials

Info on readings:

There are a lot of links to different materials you can use on the blog as well as things in the Redbook and Clinic books.  I posted the readings for the Redbook in a previous post.  My students are taking their own articles that they researched and summerizing and analyzing supporting details--which seems to be "killing two birds..."

9th Update

Could we use the "Moon Landing" article in the clinic books for the Advanced SAQ question about identifying bias? 

We may also need to create some test questions for the "theme standard."

I will make sure I come down on time this Wednesday--I came down last Wednesday about halfway through and didn't see you. 

Where I am:

I will be finished with debates and through chapter 5-6 of the book by Thursday.  I have been having the students evaluate the validity of the arguments Gladwell makes and stressing his use of a narrative/testimonials to create an argument.  I have assigned them to create an argument for or against innate ability vs. opportunity.  I have a hard copy of a graphic organizer if you would like to use it, too.  I plan on having the students pracitce the ERQ on Thursday of next week.  We will take a root quiz on Friday and do an activity with theme.  Monday and Tuesday of the following week, we will be practicing the SAQ with a documentary and reading "The Scarlet Ibis" to analye theme--I believe. 

Is this about where you are?

 : )

RI 8.9 Articles and Sources

Please find links to some primary and secondary source documents to use for RI 8.9. 

Read through the documents and select which documents would be a focus for your unit. 

Also "The Moon Landing" that Abby mentioned in the Clinic books would be awesome to use. 

Do not use Benedict Arnold. 

Abby, I have taken your links from a previous blog post and put them on the side under RI 8.9. 

Have a good weekend!

-Tiffany

P.S.  I think I am finally getting a grasp of the unit.  I believe that we could use some of the articles Abby and I have found under RI 8.9 to use throughout the unit.  Use those first and have students knock off RI 8.2, RI 8.3, RI 8.9 using conspiracy, mystery, and lies.  The articles I found previously don't exactly fit that.  I am just now completely understanding it. I jumped in to finding resources before I had a complete understanding.  Sorry, all!  It's not too late though, I haven't actually started the unit yet.  My kids have been in the lab searching, but I haven't given them a writing prompt besides search for a conspiracy.  I did tell some to pick a side in their search, but it was a select few, and I can easily fix that. 

I did go over primary and secondary sources and how to evaluate reliable sources before we went to the lab.  I have posted some links and documents on the blog and in dropbox under writing.

I also made a general lesson 2 vocabulary quiz over root words and posted it to Dropbox.   

PEACE ; )

RI 8.3 Texts in Redbook

Page 179 A historical document compared to an article

Page 195 article and historical fiction text "Drumbeats and Bullets"

Page 224 Unit pretest option to assess RI 8.2 and RI 8.3

Page 439 from "The Diary of a Young Girl" 

Page 445 "A Tragedy Revealed:  A Heroine's Last Days"

Page 463 "Walking With Living Feet"

Page 496 "Refugee in Americs"

Page 499 "The First Americans"

Page 506 "Coming To America"

Dropbox & Unit 3 - MORE updates!

Dropbox
I sooo want to title this "Drop It Like It's Hot" - but managed to refrain. ;)
I have uploaded tons to Dropbox. You will see more in the on demand file under "K-Prep, Standards & other Resources"

Unit 3
On dropbox, I have added the Unit 3 plan with the all daily targets.  We still need language targets for grammar. I plan on continuing to teach RI.8.3 (I just think it is an easy on going target) and L.8.4 & L.8.5 (ongoing vocabulary).

Where I am
I am still behind. I have to give the test Monday and I will finish up narrative this week. By Friday, I hope to give the common narrative assessment (see blog post 'Next Week') . Please look at the blog post with those prompts. We need to give the same prompt before Christmas break, at which point we will 'trade 'n grade. Do we want to give them a choice in prompts -OR- would like to pick one of those prompts - if so, which one?
I am holding off on RL.8.7 - until I can get some time to get to it. I have a sub on the 17th so that looks like an easy enough plan. If there is a standard I can give up, right now, that is the one. :)

I am still digging into this idea of conspiracy theories and more likely opening it up to historical conspiracies and mysteries. The mysteries will open this up for more variety. I am going to be very selective, however, in which conspiracies I touch on, simply because some can get into very sensitive areas. I may stick to moon landing (in CC book), Roswell/Area 51, global warming (?), Shakespeare authorship, Columbus/Vikings discovered America, etc. I may only emphasize one in class and then let them do the necessary reading in order to research for their topic. My issue is getting to the research part without having a regular lab to access. Growl.

A few sites I stumbled upon last night:

• http://www.smithsonianconference.org/conspiracy/
• https://doubtaboutwill.org/debate Shakespeare Debate

I am still hunting and gathering! Happy Sunday! :) 

~Abby 

Another standards resource

 I'll admit - I am the world's most ADD Internet searcher (is that a word)? 

I started looking for materials related to u.3 standards.......and came up with this really nicely organized resource for the standards. I like the 'assessment questions' - what a great way to see the types of questions we should be asking - formatively and on common assessments. 

http://www.syracusecityschools.com/sites/default/files/Curriculum/ela/grade08/unit04/ela-grade08-unit04-unittemplate.pdf

Take 5-10 minutes to glance at it!

~Abby 


Okay - I'm back to unit 3 and collecting writing materials for us...stay tuned. 

9th

The rubric for the analysis essay is posted in the "Argument" folder.  The rubric comes with the writing prompt for Outliers.  I have used our direct Quality Core standards to make the rubric. I was thinking that they should do multiple argument based essays.  This can change if we find any more information for what is expected in the On-Demand format.  The rubric will at least work for the essay they are currently writing about rhetorical appeals. 

I am working on the research assignment.  We can talk about if it is necessary to include a major written portion as the standards do not call for that; it basically asks them to present their findings.  I will post what I have so far, so we can talk about where to go from there.  I have aligned all of the appropriate standards so far.   


Also, i have added clips for how I am introducing the book Outliers.  I am showing one as a summery of the argument, then I will go deeper into evaluating the arguments for and against the 10,000 hour rule using the YouTube clips.  All of my clips are on this blog.  I added clips for 8th grade General also. 

-Tiffany

Next Week

A lot of work to do!

• Unit 3:   This plan is posted to dropbox. We should be ready to begin in after Election Day, give a day/two. Please look over the standards. Reading is informational focused. Writing is research/informational. We have neglected language. We need to bring the College Readiness standards back in. Chris & Josh, I think you all were working on that year-long plan. The unit plan says verbals, but we have the freedom to work within the first 2-3 bands of the ACT College Readiness Standards. Can we have a plan for the next unit? It is a 6 week unit. We need to plan an extended meeting to meet & discuss this unit so we are ready to go.  After school is hard on most of us. Before school Wednesday? Then we can meet Wednesday in PM planning to finish up. Email me if Wednesday AM doesn't work.
• On Demand Test Unit 2 prompts - let me know what you think.  I've used the prompt format I saw in the samples. I am looking for a rubric that is more specific than the existing draft versions. Should we let them choose between two prompts, like the test?  Or just offer one prompt.  
  
  1. Traditions bond families together, linking the present members of the family to the generations before them. Traditions and rituals can happen in happy or sad moments, small get-togethers or grand-scale occasions. Your local newspaper is celebrating stories tradition and wants you to contribute your story. Write about a time when you honored a tradition. Focus on a particular occasion that gives a concrete example of how the tradition was observed. 

        2.  Often when we think of the word 'foreign' we think of being from a different country.    However, foreign can refer to anything that is strange or unfamiliar. Often we may feel foreign in a setting we are not used to. It may a different culture, routine, ritual or place that made you feel alien. Write about a story about a time in which you felt like a stranger in a foreign setting. Be sure you are clear as to what the situation was and why you felt out of place. 

             

  

RI 8.2

Found lesson plans correlated to RI 8.2 that I posted on Dropbox under that standard.  Lots of links to informational texts.  I also found an interesting way to introduce the topic--if you want to take the Holocaust topic. 

I have added quite a few things under the writing--check with Abby before using.  I don't know exactly how well they are aligned to the standard. 

From WebEnglishTeacher:

Although it is history, I wanted to "ease" my fragile 8th graders into the subject of the Holocaust. AS chance would have it, it was Dr. Seuss's birthday when I began the unit, so I read "The Sneetches" to the students, as well as "The Better Butter Battle". They made some connections to what they knew of the subject, but still couldn't understand (or believe) how people would follow such craziness.
So I checked out some social studies lessons, and adapted one as follows. As an intro the "Diary of Anne Frank" I faked a grammar game. Each student picked a ribbon out of an envelope and tied it on his/her wrist. 1/2 the class were green, 1/4 were gold and 1/4 were silver. (They thought gold and silver were going to be the "elite".) Green could speak anytime, gold could speak when I or green spoke to them, and silver could speak when gold or green gave them permission. Obviously, tons of rules could be made up to apply. I asked greens easy questions "Name a noun" and they were rewarded whenever they answered correctly, or at least tried. Gold was asked questions that were difficult, but answerable, and only allowed to have a treat every 2-3 times (depending on the supply of goodies) and silver was asked virtually unanswerable questions (Use a conjunction that serves as a preposition in a compound sentence which has flibbertygibbet as the objective complement). Anyway, you get the idea. When all was said and done, I asked the kids (for homework) to write their observations.
Here's the scary part: No one said it was unfair, they only said they were glad/sad about the color ribbon they were given. They learned something uncomfortable about themselves and the world, but they also understand the problems with indifference and going along with the crowd. As an aside, we discussed "revisionists" who say that the Holocaust didn't happen. I proved to them statistically that no one in the class had blonde hair, although 8 of them did. ("We're looking for blondes, so let's discount the brunettes. We're looking for girls, so let's discount the boys." We ended up with -3 blondes, because brunette boys had been counted twice.) They seemed to understand that they need to be on their guard with such things now.


-Tiffany